Galanthus January 2009

[Anthony Darby]

Mmmm. Marjery Fish looks very dishy.

[steve owen]

Whoops! Sorry Martin, I may have got my notes transposed lying in a muddy ditch. I think Gerard Parker may be there somewhere. I'll check my log.

I should have mentioned that the Anglesey Abbey shop has a good range of drops for sale at reasonable prices, e.g. around the £8-£10-£12 mark for the likes of Kite and Lodestar. I picked up a Sibbertoft Magnet to cover a winter loss. The only pricey one was rizehensis Baytop at £25.

Mark Smyth gets an "assist" on the improved pics. Getting there...

[David Quinton]

Steve,

It certainly was a lovely day here in Cambridgeshire if not a little chilly. I envy you going along to Anglesey. I believe that they had some cut flowers or pots of snowdrops inside for those who were unable to get into the 'ditch'. Is that right? Radio Cambridgeshire did a piece on Anglesey Abbey on Monday explaining how the collection came into being. Very interesting.

[mark smyth]

Angelsey probably got it wrong. 'Comet' doesnt look big enough.

'Oliver Wyatts Green-tip'
http://www.snowdropinfo.com/oliver-wyatts-greentip.html

[steve owen]

Steve,

It certainly was a lovely day here in Cambridgeshire if not a little chilly. I envy you going along to Anglesey. I believe that they had some cut flowers or pots of snowdrops inside for those who were unable to get into the 'ditch'. Is that right? Radio Cambridgeshire did a piece on Anglesey Abbey on Monday explaining how the collection came into being. Very interesting.

David

Yes, Michael Broadhurst was manning a small display stand. By the by, I checked my camera log and no mistakes, so one or two of the pics were of mislabelled pots. I am told that Anglesey was featured tonight on Anglia TV.

[Martin Baxendale]

Angelsey probably got it wrong. 'Comet' doesnt look big enough.

'Oliver Wyatts Green-tip'
http://www.snowdropinfo.com/oliver-wyatts-greentip.html

Yes, I assumed they'd mis-labelled or mis-named. I also thought 'Comet' didn't look quite right - mark rather too dark, outer petals and ovary not quite the right shape, but I'm going by memory so didn't say anything.

Mark, 'Oliver Wyatt's Green' and 'Oliver Wyatt's Green Tip' aren't the same thing. My father was given 'Oliver Wyatt's Green' by Oliver Wyatt and named it for him.  It's a plicatus form with a solid green inner mark.

[mark smyth]

OK. I wasnt aware there were two different plants.

[Martin Baxendale]

OK. I wasnt aware there were two different plants.

'Oliver Wyatt's Green' is in Matt's book, with a photo and a write-up explaining the background, on page 149. It's a very long-lived, reliable snowdrop and a useful seed parent.

[Paddy Tobin]

Re Galanthus 'Dionysius' and the green tips shown in earlier photograph: My apologies but I cannot check on the rest of the clump at present to see if there are others with green tips. I will do so as soon as possible and report back. Apologies to those who e-mailed me on the same subject that I haven't replied but my home telephone line is out at present and my work (a primary school) internet connection operates under very strict restrictions and I don't want to go to the bother of changing the protocols just for a short period as I would have to change them back again afterwards and this would be a nuisance.

There is always the possibility that I made a mix-up when bringing the snowdrops from the garden into the house to photograph though I did take great care, writing the name on a slip of paper, piercing it and pushing the stem of each snowdrop into its own named paper slip. But, there's many a slip twixt cup and lip!

I have read over the snowdrop book and see no reference to any virescent forms of 'Dionysius' but did notice a note on a virescent 'Ophelia' which did not reappear in subsequent years. I also noted a remark on variations arising in some of these double snowdrops which seemed to be attributed to their being pot-grown; the insinuation being that pot-grown plants, because of their cultivation method, were prone to variation not found when they were grown in open ground.

And if I have a virescent 'Dionysius' I am going to twin scale it, put it for sale on e-bay and retire immediately from teaching - wouldn't that be great!

My compliments to Jo on her photographic trials and I think the black background does seem to suit the snowdrops very well. Of course, it might not suit plants of another colour and so might not be well applied to photographing crocus or daffodils, for example.

Re the question on an identity for my mysterious 'Barbara's Double' for which I asked for identification. Mark's suggestion that it might be 'Ding Dong' is beginning to sound (forgive the pun) very feasible as I purchased 'Barbara's Double' and 'Ding Dong' at the same time and from the same supplier and they may have come with their labels mixed or I could have mixed the label on planting - but, I would never do such a terrible thing!!!

Steve, Many thanks for your report on Anglesey Abbey. Great so see the display and the prices were very good. Oh, to be near the sources of all these snowdrops!

Paddy

[johnw]

Rob - The photos are crystal clear. Thanks for posting them. Grumpy is a treat; so that's what I look like in the morning.

Nice rhizehensis.

Keep the photos coming.

johnw

[Anthony Darby]

Not seen rizehensis with four outers. Is it stable?

[mark smyth]

Your camera takes good photos, Rob.

Did anyone buy Kath's late elwesii this year? well ... it's not late because it's flowering now and it's lovely. The inner mark is two very small marks like this / \

[KentGardener]

Great Pictures Rob - no need to apologise for the quality, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them.

If you have an art package (Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, etc) you can then cut out the bit of the photo you like the best too.   

Thanks for sharing them with us and I look forward to the next ones.   

Cheers

John

[Martin Baxendale]

Just found a snowdrop in the garden that I didn't know I had. According to the label I chipped it in 2001, so it's taken a long time to get back up to flowering. Galanthus 'Robert Berkeley'. Anyone heard of it? I can't remember where I might have got it. A nice scented single-marked nivalis type, quite small, probably a hybrid with plicatus.

[mark smyth]

I havent heard of it, Martin.